Eclipse and Back to School Lunch

We did not experience the exciting eclipse in totality.

We had toyed with the idea of driving up to Idaho Falls.

However, Josh was starting high school the next day and the traffic was supposed to be horrendous and we were worried about not making it back in time.

In hindsight, the traffic was not as bad as expected...we should have done it...oh well.  

I tried to take pictures through the glasses but just kept getting these weird shots with a full looking sun, a football shaped glare underneath with the silhouette of the partly covered sun in the middle.

The shadows were crazy!

Abby had gone over to a friends house for the viewing and Ben was hanging out inside lining up his toys...completely oblivious to the happenings outside.

The rest of us were kind of in awe...even though we knew it wasn't nearly what those in totality were experiencing.  It did cool down a bit, the sky had an eerie tinge to it and, as seen above, the shadows were strange.

As per tradition, we went out to eat for lunch since it was the day before school.

Abby and Josh were still getting used to their braces and ate their best in spite of the pain :)

Morty's is a fave...and so close to Andy's work (although he didn't go in that day).

What a fun and interesting day.

Maybe we'll hit the next nearby total...when is that?...like 28 years from now?

Gratitude Quilt and a Gift

For my birthday I had asked my mom for some favorite fabric that I had fallen in love with.

This is Jo Morton's "Gratitude" line.

I just think it's yummy!

Anyway, she was kind enough to gift me a big bundle of fat 1/8ths.

I didn't waste too much time figuring out what I wanted to do with them.

I knew I wanted to make a quilt for our living room and I wanted it fast since the fall season was approaching so I found an easy pattern and whipped it out.

I just love how it turned out!

I'm not great with overall patterns while quilting but I felt like that is what this one needed.

I always feel like I back myself into a corner and don't have a way of getting out.

It was a good challenge for me though and I like the paisley/swirl effect.

I have absolutely amazing neighbors!

One day, while visiting, I noticed my friend had a beautiful, new quilt ladder in her living room.

I learned her husband had made it.

I commented on how much I loved it and he offered to make one for me!

After assuring me it was not a big deal and he could do it quite easily I told them that would be lovely.  Not long after, it arrived on my doorstep :)  They left it unfinished so I could choose whatever color I wanted.

I ended up going with kind of a chalky gray.

I am so thrilled with it and can't thank my neighbors enough!

Braces/Sodas/Soccer

The week before school started Abby and Josh got braces.

Here they are getting molds of their teeth a few weeks prior...

It brought back memories!

As I was sitting there watching I could again feel the cold gloopy stuff in my mouth and the gag reaction over and over again.

These two seemed to handle it just fine though.

And now here they are right before their brackets went on...

The orthodontist says hopefully about 18 months for both of them.

I don't know how long I was expected to have mine...I think 2 - 2.5 years but ended up having a silver smile for 4 years.

I have to share a new addiction at our house.

Abby suggested we make Italian Sodas during the summer.

I thought it was a fantastic idea so I went to town on buying syrups.

A local grocery store had quite a large selection which kept us happy for a couple of months.

Then Andy suggested a flavor that I couldn't find through Torani so I searched Monin and found a whole bunch of new flavors we needed :)

I've been buying loads of Sonic ice and carbonated water!

For quite a while it was a daily thing (sometimes more than once daily) but now not so much.  Except for Josh who is always sure to make one when he comes home from school.  

It's definitely a fun treat to have available

Matt has continued with soccer.

They got new uniforms this year which I think are a great color!

It's always fun to watch him play and interact with the other boys on the team.

Very soon after this picture was taken quite the storm hit.  The game was put on hold for a bit, then they tried playing again with all the wind and moisture and eventually ended up calling it off.

15 Years

In August Andy and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.

As a gift to him I ordered five canvases with pictures of our trip to Kauai.

There is a wall in our bedroom that is blank and would be perfect for the collage.

When I gave them to him he was appreciative and loved them and then hinted that his gift to me (that had not arrived yet) was somewhat similar.

This arrived a few days later :)

We have yet to decide how and where to hang them all.

Just for record's sake...

We have a history of this kind of thing.

When we were first married Andy would often say how he wished we had a nice picture of the temple in our apartment.

I put my very amateur artistic skills to use and came up with this for him.

Andy painted this one...

He added dry lilacs from the temple grounds....at which he actually worked at the time.

Anyway, we tend to think similarly when it comes to gift giving around here :)

Some Recent Creations

This spring and summer I made a few quiet book pages to add to my niece's book.

First I did an eensy weensy spider page...

The spider and raindrops slide up and down the drain and the cloud folds down to reveal a sun.

Next I made a sock matching/laundry basket page...

The socks attach with velcro.

And finally, a woodlandish creature page

Each creature's home flips around (on magnets sewn into the felt) to "hide" the animal.

This was my favorite one to do :)

As summer approached, I started noticing painted rocks on Pinterest.

I thought it looked like a fun activity to do with the kids while they were out of school.

I gathered supplies and started experimenting.

 These were my first few attempts...

As I kept looking around on Pinterest I saw many examples of this type of art (dotilism) done on canvas.  These are mini canvases...canvi...I should have put my hand in the picture to compare size.

I think they are3-5 inches square.

I had a lot of fun with this and the kids each joined me temporarily...Matt the most...but none of them enjoyed it as much as I did.

This eventually led to the vision and creation of my Christmas ornament for the year.

I have never had my ornaments done before Fall...it's rather a good feeling :)

I will share them with you later.

Three years ago I gave Abby a bunch of fox flannel to make a quilt.

It took us a while but we finally finished it!

I taught her how to cut out the blocks and she did almost all of the sewing as well.

I went ahead and quilted and bound it.

This is the back

We are both very happy to have it finished and on her bed to cuddle up with!

Kidd Camp 2017

Our first Kidd Campout without Grandpa.

We only went up for one evening but the clouds were beautiful, my camera had some weird color issues going on and I think I must have had a fingerprint on the lens because pretty much every picture is blurry.

Ah well...